Friends With Benefits
by BrookeSutter
Summary: Because this relationship should have happened... Summary: Mark gets kicked out of his hotel and Meredith lets him stay with her because who is she to let a club member be homeless? MerMark.


Prologue: Helping A Friend

It was storming outside and there was no way she was running through the rain to get to her vehicle in the painful pair of ballerina flats she mistakenly wore. Meredith had stayed at the hospital an hour later than she was supposed to, eyes skimming through textbooks as she tried to even her odds against Alex Karev-who would have thought?-on a plastics case. Normally, plastics weren't her thing but it had been her patient in the pit before Alex evilly stole it so he could be with Dr. McSteamy. The patient was a five year old girl who had been caught in a house fire, her face badly burned in the process. The little girl's father had passed shortly after he was wheeled into Seattle Grace and her mother was still in ICU, barely breathing for herself.

She knew she was getting emotionally involved and that Bailey would kick her ass for it but she couldn't seem to care. Derek had chosen Addison and Meredith needed to care about something _other_ than her failed love life and her lack of sex. God, she really missed sex. And she cared about the little girl named Charlotte.

But now, she was just exhausted and studied out. Even with all of her extensive reading, she wasn't sure if she was prepared enough to assist on the surgery. Alex had a certain charisma and aptitude for the type of work. Plus, it was clear that she had no intentions of being a plastic surgeon ever.

Meredith yawned, covering it with her inner arm as she glanced around the abandoned Lobby. She checked her watch, it was almost 6:30 in the morning. If she wanted to get any type of sleep, she would have to eventually man-up and go through the stinging rain so she could crawl into her bed. She looked out the window and was about to start walking towards the door when she heard the elevator ding and a man yelling at someone on his phone. When she listened closer, she realized it was Mark Sloan that was cussing someone out about his hotel room.

It crossed her mind that she could plead her case about being able to work with Charlotte but she didn't know if anything intelligible would come out of her mouth. Mark seemed to notice her and quieted down his rantings before saying a final, "I'll be out by 11, damn!" Any hints of anger faded from his face immediately as he greeted her. He seemed to understand why she was hanging around the lobby when he saw the amount of rain. "This day could not get worse."

"So, you're being kicked out?"

"Yes." He looked at her with a smirk despite the situation he was in, "Were you eavesdropping on my conversation, Grey?"

Meredith shrugged, "You were yelling."

"I am homeless."

Before she could stop herself, she opened her mouth to speak. "Well, I have a couch if you need to-" She paused, her eyes widening with horror as she realized that she just offered Mark Sloan-adulterous, wife-stealing Mark Sloan-her couch. Meredith shrugged again as to complete her statement before she turned her body away from him. The silence between them was awkward so she turned back around and said, "I mean if you need a place to shower, or sleep, I guess I can help out a club member."

"Can I sleep with you?" He asked, almost maintaining a straight face in the process.

She rolled her eyes, not entertaining his question. "Do you have tomorrow off?"

"I have night-shift." He squinted his eyes at her, "Why?"

"You are homeless, Dr. Sloan." She reminded him, "So, if you would like to take me up on my offer before I get a good nights sleep and have time to reconsider, I suggest that we fix that fact." Meredith pointed outside in the general direction of the parking lot and sighed, "I've been up for nearly fifty hours at this point and once I get home, I am going to bed. Let's get your things and you can follow me back to my place."

Mark chuckled, "I never agreed to stay with you Dr. Grey, there's a lot of presuming going on here." She stared at him unimpressed for a few seconds before he finally gave in. "Derek is not going to like this at all."

"I don't really care what Derek thinks." She didn't know if it was a lie in that moment or not. It didn't feel like one. "Is that a yes or a no? I don't have all day."

"Yes, I would greatly appreciate you letting me _temporarily_ move into your youth hostel."

"Great, let's go."


End file.
